James Timothy Shelnut Sr., 66, served as the board’s chairman from 2005 through 2006, according to The Augusta Chronicle archives. He was booked into the Charles B. Webster Detention Center on a charge of civil contempt of court and is being held without bond.

Judge David Ro­per, who presided over the hear­ing Friday, said Shel­nut failed to pay $199,675 in alimony and has been ordered to make the payments in order to be released.

This isn’t the first time Shelnut has landed in hot water.

According to Chronicle archives, Shelnut, who left the Board of Regents in 2007, was fined $40,000 in 2008 for violating state ethics laws for making excess political campaign donations from the mid-1990s to 2004, including giving $12,260 to former state Sen. Charles Walker, D-Augusta.

The fine was the largest civil penalty the state ethics commission had ever assessed against an individual.

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He used to own the News Times, which he sold to Morris several years ago. He also reneged on a promise to Augusta Prep to fund a large capital project when he didnt' like the way a situation was handled. How did he become a regent? - MONEY!

Interesting that the only campaign ethics violation reported is the one involving Charles Walker when there were others Shelnut admitted to. Around the time of the Linda Schrenko trial he admitted passing excessive contributions to her via Sue Burmeister. He also admitted making excessive contributions ($10,000 I believe was the amount) to former Sheriff Ronnie Strength.

Shelnut did a lot of good around here. He was one of the richest men in the state at one time. He contributed to many good causes...and many candidates it appears. Heh.

The episode with Strength and the 10 K given to his campaign was intriguing. The feds were going to call Shelnut to testify at Schrenko's trial and he was cleaning up things with them. There was a small paragraph in the back of the Chronicle saying Shelnut also admitted to slipping the Strength campaign the 10 k. Phil Kent was guest hosting a radio show and brought it up on the air when most would have missed it. Strength denied getting the money. Later there was an administrative court hearing where Strength had to appear, but there was never a report of what transpired. I always faulted the Chronicle for not reporting what happened in that court or giving the story a proper importance. But Barry Paschal did do an editorial in the CCNT about it, including the allegations of the Strength campaign donations violations. To his credit, Strength did donate 10 k to charity a bit later.

Firstly, I have borrowed "TrulyWorried"'s user ID. These are my comments.
Secondly, Do you know who was Riverman? I doubt it. Now, I'll comment.
I know only too well Tim Shelnut. How dare you impune, by implication and facts unknown to you, the reputation of Ronnie Strength and the Treasurer for his campaign. Michael Roy Waters CPA

I think I accurately reported that Strength denied everything although it was never reported what happened in the administrative court proceedings. Hey, don't blame me. This is between Shelnut and Strength. This is a quote from the Columbia County News Times:

“Shelnut - who owned this paper 10 years ago - also says he gave more money than he should have to Richmond County Sheriff Ronnie Strength, who denies knowing about the alleged donations.”

“According to documents released Thursday by the ethics commission, Shelnut admits to giving $10,000 to former state Rep. Sue Burmeister, R-Augusta, in July 2000, $2,000 more than he was allowed to contribute; $10,000 to Richmond County Sheriff Ronnie Strength sometime in the mid-1990s, $8,000 above the legal limit; and $12,260 to former state Sen. Charles Walker, D-Augusta, in 2004, an overage of $8,260.”